Chris Christie:
Candidate's Political Philosophy
The below is a way of thinking about the candidate's political philosophy by dividing the candidate's VoteMatch answers into "personal" and "economic" questions. It is only a theory - please take it with a grain of salt!
Personal Questions: Liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers.
Economic Questions: Conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictions answers.
Candidate's Score
The candidate scored the following on the VoteMatch questions:
Personal Score 45%
Economic Score 40%
Where the Candidate Fits In
Where the candidate's Personal score meets the Economic score on the grid below is the candidate's political philosophy. Based on the above score, the candidate is a Centrist.
On Gun Control:
Q: You support some gun controls. Why?
A: When you look at what we've done in New Jersey, we want to control violence. And some of that may involve firearms, but a lot of it doesn't. In fact, my focus has been on making sure that mental health is done in a much more aggressive way. Every time we see one of these incidents happen across our country, it is almost exclusively with a deeply disturbed person at the helm, and what we need to do is be much more aggressive about how we deal with mental health issues in this country. So I am for violence control.
Q: But gun control is part of it.
A: Well, it can be. And I've signed some of those measures, but I've also vetoed measures that I thought were overreaching and not consistent with 2nd Amendment rights. It is looking at these things case by case, to see does it make common sense, does it control violence? We need to not pander on these issues. We need to have adults in the room who make decisions based upon controlling violence in our society.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2013 interview of Chris Christie , Nov 10, 2013
Vetoed outright ban on Barrett .50 caliber rifle
On gun control, Christie explained why he vetoed an outright ban on the powerful Barrett .50 caliber rifle, even though he initially proposed a ban on future purchases. He blamed Democrats for going back on their word during negotiations with him. "If they break a deal with me, then there's going to be ramifications," Christie said. "They didn't keep their word on this."
Buono said she believes Christie changed his mind after he received a letter from gun rights advocates in New Hampshire, the site of the nation's first presidential primary.
Source: Newark Star-Ledger on 2013 N.J. Governor debates , Oct 16, 2013
We already have too many firearms in our community
We already have too many firearms in our community In April 1993 Christie announced that he would challenge incumbent state senator John Dorsey, an 18-year lawmaker, in the Republican primary. It was a big and brassy move because Dorsey was the Senate majority leader. We already have too many firearms in our community NJ's ban on semiautomatic weapons. The ban was among the signature pieces of legislation passed.
"The issue which has energized me to get into this race is the recent attempt by certain Republican legislators to repeal NJ's ban on assault weapons.
Source: Rise to Power, by B. Ingle & M. Symons, p. 45-46 , Jun 5, 2012
2009: No right-to-carry cross-state reciprocity
The governor opposed a move in Congress that would effectively override NJ's strict laws against concealed weapons although NJ's entire Republican House delegation voted for it. The "right-to-carry reciprocity" bill would allow anyone with a valid permit to carry in their home state the same right in any other state. In NJ holders of carry permits from other states must lock their guns up when entering the Garden State.
"I believe that each state should have the right to make firearms laws as they see fit. I don't believe it's right for the federal government to get into the middle of this and decide firearms laws for the people of the state of NJ," Christie told "The Record" in July 2009.
Source: Rise to Power, by B. Ingle & M. Symons, p.253 , Jun 5, 2012
Favors gun control measures from law-enforcement perspective
In 2009, Christie said on Fox News with Sean Hannity that he supported some gun control measures:
Q: Are there any issues where you are moderate to left as a Republican?
A: I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in NJ.
Q: Bad idea.
A: We have a densely populated state, and there's a big handgun problem in NJ. On certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed, we have an illegal gun problem in NJ.
Q: Should every citizen in your state be allowed to get a licensed weapon if they want one?
A: In NJ, that's not going to happen.
Q: Why?
A: With the Democratic legislature we have, there's no way those type of things--
Q: Would you support it?
A: What I support are commonsense laws that will allow people to protect themselves, but I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets, very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don't have an abundance of guns out there"
http://www.ontheissues.org/Chris_Christie.htm#Gun_Control